Facebook as an integrated online learning support application during the COVID19 pandemic: Thai university students' experiences and perspectives

While a number of studies in the literature have explored the potentials of using Facebook in classroom teaching, there is a scarcity of studies that investigate its use as an online learning support application, especially when classes have to be moved to online and remote teaching due to health emergencies like the COVID19 pandemic. This article explores the use of a closed-class Facebook group (FBG) as a learning support application from the perspectives and experiences of 33 university English language students in Thailand. A self-report survey questionnaire and a semi-structured individual interview were conducted to get the data for the study. Drawing on the concept of connectivism, findings revealed that although students faced some issues like internet connectivity, lesson concentration difficulty, and lack of support from the family, they still held positive perceptions in moving to online class on Facebook during the pandemic. They believed that Facebook provided them with an easy way to connect with their classmates, who can support them in their remote language learning. Thus, Facebook is not only perceived as a social network by the students, but also as a learning platform where they can easily retrieve academic sources and share them with their classmates for intellectual discussion. This article argues that given the right online pedagogical strategy, Facebook can be used as an alternative to an established learning management system, especially when a university does not have one.

Automated summary

Although students faced challenges like internet connectivity and lack of family support, they still had positive perceptions about using Facebook for online learning during the pandemic. They viewed Facebook not only as a social network, but also as a learning platform where they could easily connect with classmates and share academic sources for discussions.